The Guy Behind The Guy – Malki Kawa

In the world of MMA, there are a million different moving pieces that make a fight happen. The fighters, the promoters, the trainers and coaches, and of course there is the ever important role of the manager in mixed martial arts.

These are the men and women that help get the deals done, the bout agreements signed, the sponsorship packages in place, and the people behind the scenes that help manage a fighter’s career to take them to that next level.

These are the stories that a new video series on MMAWeekly.com investigates. Who are these people? Where did they come from and how did they get their start in MMA?

Created and directed by MMAWeekly.com’s lead writer Damon Martin, The Guy Behind the Guy focuses on the managers in the MMA world who make those deals and land those sponsorships and tell their story.

For the first installment, MMAWeekly.com goes one-on-one with one of the most popular and talked about managers in the sport, First Round Management leader Malki Kawa.

Kawa works with fighters like UFC light heavyweight champion Jon “Bones” Jones, Carlos Condit, Benson Henderson, and Thiago Alves. Often controversial, never soft spoken, Kawa opens up about how he got involved in MMA, and what the biggest misconception about him is.